THIS is odd, if not outright bizarre — Pakistan, Afghanistan and India talking about the pricing formula of a unit of Turkmen gas to be conveyed by a pipeline across war-torn Afghanistan. Impressive was the seriousness with which delegates from the three countries discussed the issue in Islamabad. Afghanistan will charge Pakistan and India for hosting the pipeline across its mountainous mass, while Islamabad will in turn ask New Delhi to pay it a like amount. There was no agreement during the two-day negotiations that concluded on Tuesday. The three parties are to meet again at a date not yet specified, and if they fail to agree on a formula, the Asian Development Bank will play mediator. Assuming that the three sides will develop a consensus at their next meeting or, failing that, the ADB’s good offices will clinch a deal in Ashgabat next month, some pertinent questions deserve to be asked: is peace around the corner in Afghanistan? Will the American withdrawal by 2014 — unlikely to be total — be followed by a lasting peace? Will gas start flowing through the TAPI pipeline by December 2016 as hoped for? If all this is in the realm of uncertainty, doesn’t common sense suggest opting for the relatively hassle-free and terrain-wise easy Iran pipeline?

India’s stand on the TAPI project defies logic, if we consider its stance on the other pipeline. New Delhi used to complain — before it buckled under American pressure and ditched the three-state project — that it was worried about the security of supply from Pakistan. Do not the same security concerns apply to the TAPI pipeline? While the TAPI project is dependent upon the chimera that is peace in Afghanistan, an IPI pipeline can become a reality in a short time, because Tehran has already laid the pipeline across Iranian territory. If India reconsiders its decision to renege on the IPI project, gas can start flowing from Iran to India via Pakistan in a relatively short time. Pakistan, our eastern neighbour must accept, will be there in any case, whether India opts for TAPI or IPI or for both.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.